blueprints

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Don't you love the Dollar Spot at Target? I found this little straw bag, perfect for holding all the sunscreen and other summer essentials without having to lug around a huge bag --which I do. I use this beastly mama and love it. But sometimes you just need to downsize, know what I mean?

It's a cutie, but it needs a little pretty-ing up.

So I hot glued a ruffle of cute fabric. I tried a new way of ruffling that I saw somewhere on some blog in the crafty blogosphere, but don't remember where. You set your tension to its highest and your stitch to its longest. So, so easy and it makes such a pretty ruffle! I love this method! Try it you must (Did you hear Yoda's voice?? It's probably just me. My Star Wars geek of a husband has corrupted me for life.).

But it needs just a little more...

So I added a flower. I debated - fabric flower, silk flower? I went the easy route and hot glued a silk flower.

I don't know why it's looking all lean-y. It looks kind of warped. I didn't notice it when I took the picture. But I'm too lazy to go take another. :) You've got the idea, right? Trust me, it's cute. Perfect for the little trip to the pool or beach without having to lug around the beast bag. And it started with the Dollar Spot. Frugal, fast and fun!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Little Miss Sassy Pants had a birthday and I was probably just as excited as she was about it. We had a cowgirl themed birthday party, but what I was most excited about was her new room. We painted it lavender and then I got started on the pillows and other room decor. There is so much to do, but I'm excited with the progress we've made so far. These aren't the greatest pics, but whatever. :)For her wall I framed some fabric that I used for the pillows (Aviary 2 by Joel Dewberry - my fave fabric right now). Then I hotglued some wood letters onto the fabric and hung them up! Easy peasy! I think I'm going to repaint the frames though. The bed is black so I think that's what I'm going to paint them.Then I made the pillows. I searched around for some inspiration, so I can't tell you exactly which tutorials I used. I bought pillows from Ikea (a lot cheaper than Joann's) and made covers for them.This pillow I did use a tutorial from Flamingo Toes.I got the quilt at Marshall's. I figured it would be cheaper and less of a headache. I'm not a quilter...not yet anyway. Maybe that bug will hit me. Maybe not. :)For her birthday party I made this Popover Sundress by Oliver + S. It's a free pattern and it's sooo easy and sooo cute and you sooo have to make it. It fits so well and it really was so easy. To simplify it even more I used ready made bias tape for the ties.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

My last three projects have been related to Maddie's 3rd birthday. I wanted to make her a quilt, so I decided to try out a practice one with scraps and Goodwill fabric. That is the top picture. It was a lot of cutting and piecing, but I learned from my mistakes.

The second quilt is her "magic quilt". In an episode of Little Bill, Alice the Great gives Bill a magic quilt to help him not be scared. On it are pictures of things that he can think about to take his mind off scarier things. This was the basic idea behind Maddie's quilt. I decided to applique pictures of some of her favorite things right now in her life: robots, triceratops, rhinos, band-aids, cereal, flowers, etc.

I first cut out the squares, then I drew the pictures and then cut them out with about 1/4" extra space. Then I clipped, turned, and basted the pictures down to their actual size. I then pinned them on the squares. I started to hand applique them onto the squares, which look a lot nicer, but took too long, so I used the hidden stitch (I think it's called) on my machine using invisible thread. Once all was attached, I then pieced everything together. I don't have the right foot for machine quilting, so I borrowed a quilting frame and hand quilted both quilts. All in all it was a long process, but I did enjoy it and hope to someday do more.

My dad helped me build the dollhouse for Maddie. He measured and cut the wood and told me what to do with it. I then glued and nail gunned it together, then sanded it all. Casey and I did the painting and wallpaper and flooring. It's definitely not professional looking, but we love the way it turned out. And best of all, Maddie loves it! We already had some dollhouse furniture and accessories we found at a yard sale last year, so we just bought a little bit of furniture to make it complete.

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A Little About Us...

We began with a mutual love of aprons. Having never sewn at all, a couple of us decided to get together and try our hand at sewing an apron. And the Secret Stitch Club was formed (we got our name from Maren's husband who sarcastically asked us one time if we put a secret stitch in our aprons). Almost two years and dozens of aprons later, we still meet weekly to sew, chat, share ideas, eat, and laugh. We share our latest creations and newest inspirations on this blog. Thanks for visiting us!